…the BA was a BAND GEEK?????

…there may be gods after all…

In a way I feel we rarely take the time to express how much we appreciate the people around us in our life. Sure we made a good choice when we got married, or we lucked out with family (you can’t choose your parents). There is the old saying that Sherlock Holmes once used in a story, “There but for the grace of God go I”. I think in all of us there is a sense “boy I’m lucky!” And in a sense saying “hey I’m grateful I’ve got a job in this economy!” is a way of taking time to appreciate your life instead of the seemingly year long focus on what you DON’T have. A simple dinner reflection on what IS good in your life is such a break from the whining we hear (and sometimes indulge in) all year.

As David also mentioned, this wasn’t covered up by CERN and it’s old news. BA covered it somewhere on this blog.

You have indeed a valid point — “giving thanks” implies thanking someone. But it doesn’t have to be a deity. You got close when you thanked Randi for giving you the opportunity to be president of the foundation.

Here’s my suggestion: give thanks to all that have enabled you (and not just You, Phil, but everyone) to be where you are today. I thank my wife for sticking by me all these years, thank my parents for giving me the upbringing they did, my teachers (well, all but one or two) for giving me the education that enabled me to be what I am, etc. No deity was involved in getting my life to where it was, but I AM thankful for all those that WERE involved in it.

And I also give thanks to Phil Plait for being who he is, a voice of reason in a very unreasonable world!

And what about deeply unhappy people? Sounds pretty sadistic to put depressed people to a ritual of telling everyone how happy they are.

Nope, I could do without Thanksgiving. And indeed we don’t have it around here, so suits me fine!

But I still think that considering life just as a “statistical error of quantum fluctuations” ( ) takes all of it what makes it good and adorable. Even if this is not entirely wrong in a scientific meaning, life is more than that – at least for me.
Sometimes strange things happen. Something you did in the past (even not important to you) can come out in a nerver expected way in the future. Even the smallest choices we make influences the whole universe (which is literally correct) just like the butterfly effect. I don’t think “statistical fluctuations of quantum space” are always the answer (but that’s just me!!).

So, once more: Being thankful is nothing bad. I think being thankful is really something good – and probably there is something wrong with you if you cannot be thankful from time to time.

“I thank my family for their support, and my friends over the course of my life for shaping that life. I’m glad for the opportunities, but I’m thankful to the people. ”

That’s right! Thank you!

Maybe I’m too metaphysically/spiritually inclined for you, but, I figure any thanks sent out from an emotional/mental agreement will somehow reach the appropriate recipient.

& even if it doesn’t it is good for the self just to send it out.

although I think your a bit too much of a hardcase, I do agree with most of what you say, most of the time.

Peace & thanks

Google “News from the LHC” click on the 2nd link at the CERN website.

Go to part II “Part II S34 Incident or …what you can do with 200 MJ”

Amongst quotes:
“Considerable collateral damage over few hundred metres”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, I’m not going to waste all my free time playing video games. I’m going to go seize an opportunity I should have seized a long time ago.

I’d just like to say thanks for George W. Bush,,,if it hadn’t been for his eight years of incompetence, we would likely never have aggravated enough white people to enable the election of an intelligent, compassionate multi-ethnic man to the White House.

Now we’re really rolling into the third millennium and it’s largely because of George,,,

Thanks George!

Gary 7

Love the story about meeting your wife. I’ve often thought about the twists and turns of life that first bring us into contact with the people we know and love. For me, I often think, “what if my parents hadn’t told me about that dance that the church group was having for teenagers?”

Anyway, we spent yesterday being thankful for the many things we’ve done in our lives and our ability to do what we do. It felt completely natural to thank each other!

Aside to Nigel — back when I was on campus, we called all-black-clad students “art majors.”

(Our other favorite term was “tragic freshmen.”)

Hope you had a good one!

Tell me that I am a one-in-a-million guy, for example, and I know reflexively there are 5999 more of me out there somewhere.

Well, I’m one in a billion. There were five others of me, but I have already hunted them down and consumed their life energy.

Ever read a SF short story called “Let’s Be Frank”? I can’t recall the author, but it starts out with a guy, named Frank, looking at his newborn son, suddenly realizes he’s looking up at himself as well. He and his son share the same consciousness. As the generations pass, this (sort of) hive mind expands and grows into millions, and then becomes aware of a female collective. I forget how it ends, though. I think the two eventually encompass all of humanity.

Are you saying that the true, secular spirit of thanksgiving has been subverted with some pseudo-religious agenda of just being generally ‘grateful’ to a particular deity? That’s sad if it’s the case. If I were you, I’d be trying to start a secularist movement to reclaim thanksgiving… maybe we could arrange some sort of swap and give Christmas back in return?

I’m British, and we don’t have a day off. But I’ll say thanks to you anyway for writing some interesting stuff. But for goodness sake, cheer up.

@Davidlpf,
’twasn’t the turkey dinner that silenced Fly. CERN’s MIB caught up with him.

Heehee! Physics PhD students wearing black – when I was at Uni we called them goths.